No Second Chances
by MattsMarshMello
Summary: Everyone doesn't get a second chance at happy endings, but some manage a bittersweet one. Dramione/Slight AU.


_Oh where, oh where can my baby be? The Lord took her away from me. She's gone to heaven, so I've got to be good. So I can see my baby when I leave this world. _

Should we pity the dead or the living? Those burdened with pain or those who are beyond our grasp. Sometimes memories can be the most debilitating things, more painful than anything physical. He wouldn't forget it, it was burned forever into his brain and he would never forgive himself for it. That night...

_We were out on a date in my Daddy's car. We hadn't driven very far, there in the road, straight ahead a car was stalled, the engine was dead._

After a year of friendship she had finally convinced him to get a muggle driver's license and he was currently behind the wheel of her father's car that they had borrowed for the night. They had met up a few years after Hogwart's at a pub and after a few shots of firewhiskey, they shared the demise of their recent romantic relationships. One thing led to another and it led them to form a tentative friendship that was heavily based in sharing each of their cultures with the other. Tonight he was driving to a place that served cotton candy, he was unsure about trying it. How could cotton be candied and edible? Draco turned his head to look at Hermione in the passenger seat singing along with the song that playing on the radio.

"And when I touch you I feel happy inside, its such a feelin' that my love I can't hide, I can't hide..yeah you got that something, I think you'll understand..I wanna hold your hand.."

He remembered she had said something about a singing beetle or some such nonsense, but right now he took in how her eyes sparkled with freedom and happiness. After hearing the lyric he reached over a hand to hold hers. He planned on confessing to her tonight that he had started to feel much more than friendship for her. He was brought back to reality by her suddenly panicked voice.

"Draco! Look out!"

_I couldn't stop, so I swerved to the right. I'll never forget the sound that night. The screamin' tires, the bustin' glass, the painful scream that I heard last._

Looking up he saw muggles and a car stopped on the road, he took his hand back from hers to serve in hopes of avoiding a collision. The harsh sounds of glass shattering, screeching tires, shouts and a horrible scream. This symphony would be etched into his mind forever. A blur of color swam around him and gravity shifted before everything went black.

_Oh where, oh where, can my baby be? The Lord took her away from me. She's gone to heaven, so I've got to be good. So I can see my baby when I leave this world._

He became aware of pain and voices, but he was still swimming in an abyss of black. There were people, but he couldn't tell what they were saying.

_When I woke up the rain was pourin' down. There were people standin' all around. Something warm flowing through my eyes, but somehow I found my baby that night._

He woke suddenly and shifted with a groan, which was followed by panicking as he realized that he was upside down. Draco glanced around for Hermione but was only met with a large hole in the windshield. Horrified and afraid he quickly undid his seat belt despite his sore and bruised body. After managing to crawl out of the car, he looked around and spotting Hermione by her signature curls, he half crawled, half ran to her. His stomach flipped sickeningly as he noticed her hair and clothes were covered in blood. "Hermione!"

_I lifted her head, she looked at me and said, "Hold me darling, just a little while". I held her close, I kissed her our last kiss. I found the love that I knew I had missed. Well now she's gone, even though I hold her tight. I lost my love, my life, that night. _

"Hermione! Oh Merlin, 'Mione!"

He skidded to a halt in the grass near her, and instantly took her into his arms and placed her on his lap. He gently brushed some of her hair out of her face, his blood mixing with hers as it smeared across her cheek. He took note that she was pale, too pale and that the grass beneath them was stained red from her various injuries.

"Hermione.."

Her eyes found his and she pursed her lips before speaking, with a raspy voice.

"Draco,..you're...bleeding.."

As she reached a shaky hand up to his temple to touch his injury, that until now he hadn't noticed, he met her hand with his own. Hermione's expression wavered before she burst into tears and her body quivered.

"It hurts...Dray it hurts...don't leave, stay with me please...it all hurts.."

Draco continued to gently pet her head and shifted her to a more comfortable position.

"Shh love, I'm not going anywhere 'Mione. I'm here...shh.."

He saw her eyes widen slightly, before she weakly tugged him to her and their lips met. It was a bittersweet kiss, one tinged with blood and things that were to be left unsaid. Fate had never been on their side. As Draco pulled away he felt her body relax into dead weight and he knew that she was gone. He was terrified to look at her but forced himself to, and when he looked up she looked peaceful. Just like she had fallen asleep and he couldn't help himself, he wept and held her close to him.

_Oh where, oh where, can my baby be? The Lord took her away from me. She's gone to heaven, so I've got to be good. So I can see my baby when I leave this world._

The aftermath was messy. Draco had no legal punishment from the ministry nor the muggle authorities, but Potter and Weasley held a hatred for him that was stronger than he ever thought to be possible. They blamed him of course and they were bitter over the fact that Hermione had kept her friendship with him a secret from him. To Draco, this made what he had shared with Hermione sacred and is part of what led him to use muggle means to produce an heir that was biologically his without him having to marry. Eventually everyone forgot about him, as he became reclusive and Hermione faded into the history books for many.

**AN: Written for The Quidditch League, Team: Pride of Portree, Position: Keeper. Songs used are Pearl Jam's 'Last Kiss' and The Beatles' 'I Want To Hold Your Hand'. **


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